Have you considered using Solar Thermal Rockets (Ammonia) with an afterburner, in place of Ion engines? It would mean sacrificing Isp for Thrust, but it would make the trip times shorter (a lot shorter), preventing the issues arising from passing into the shadow of the Earth, and make the plan more likely to get off the ground. Higher thrust also means a possibility of starting at a lower altitude.

...why didn't you say earlier on the Internet? It would have silenced a lot of the Skeptics who base their argument on the Thrust/Drag ratio.

BTW; the reading style was a bit odd. off, and... amatuerish. The paragraphs shouldn't have been indented and had a space inbetween. You didn't let the grammer checker correct yuo on that but you did on other ones.

The trouble I found was the lack of Subheadings. It would have a heading 'propulsion' and then have headings the same size such as 'solid core' and 'VASIMR'. Then, using the same size heading, it would go on to 'bouyuncy', or something in that area.